James pitkin



(No Model.)

J. PITKIN..

SBUONDARY BATTERY.

No. 274,373. Patented Man, 1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JAMES P'IKIN, OF CLERKENWELL, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

SECONDARY BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,373, dated March v20, 1883.

Application filed July 13, 1882. (No model.) Patented in England December 13, 1881, No. 5,451 in France December 19, 18817, No. 146,420, and in Belgium December 21, 1881, No. 56,544.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES PITKIN, of Clerkenwell, in the couuty of Middlesex, England,

' have invented a new and useful Improvement ings of lead, or strips, shreds, or pieces of leadfoil, or of highly-laminated sheets ot' lead in a crumpled and entangled condition, packed in an open frame ot' wood or ebonite,and inclosed in a covering of felt, flannel, or other suitable porous fabric, stretched over it on each side to retain the lead in place and allovv it to he acted on by the electrolytic liquid. The electrode thus constituted is connected with the terminals or connecting strips used for joining up the electrodes to form a battery by means, preferably, of a'rod of lead attened and cut or divided into a number of narrow leading strips or branches, which are distributed uniformly through the mass of the elect-rode. This method of branching the conductor avoids the vuse of soldered joints and the local action resulting therefrom. rlhe battery is formed by passing an electric current through it, first in the one direction and then in the other, in the usual way, whereby the one element becomes peroxidzed and the other becomes reduced to the state of spongy lead.

In the accompanying drawings l have represented an example oi' my invention.

Figure 1 represents a face view, and Fi g. 2 an edge view, of one of my electrodes, part of the frameand covering material being removed to show the interior.

A is an open frame, of Wood, ebonite, or other non-conducting material.

B is a mass of very thin turnings or shavngs of lead, or strips or pieces of lead-foil, or ot' other very thin sheets ot' lead packed into the frame A and retained therein by coverings O G, offelt or annel, stretched over each side ot' the frame A and secured by wood pegs c, driven through the overlapping edges ofthe two coverings C C, or by sewing, ceiuenting, or other-' wise. I prefer to use very thin lead-turniugs, obtained by turning down a cylinder of lead in a Seli-actin g lathe, the tooi being preferably so formed and held as to turn ott' shavings of a curly or spiral and wrinkled form, as they pack less densely in the frame.

D is a rod of lead passing through the frame A, and tlattenedout to abroad end, which is slit or divided into a 'number ot' leading strips or branches, d, distributed uniformly through the electrode.

l am aware that powdered gascarbon orlead has been employed instead of leaden plates; but the objection to a powder is that it packs so closely that it does not greatly increase the' surface for chemical action, while my spiral turnings are loose, porous, and productive of au enormoussurfaceforchemical action; hence What l claim as new and of my invention is electrodes formed of thin spiral shavings or turnings ot' lead, crumpled, entangled, and

packed in an open frame of wood or ebonite and covered by a porous fabric, as described.

The above specification of my invention for improvements in secondary batteries signed by me the 14th day of June, A. D. 1882.

JAMES PITKIN'.

Agent.

As an improvement in secondary batteries, A 

